Bohemian Starlet

Wednesday, 29 August 2012

The Brickhouse JULY

Our little show La Bordello Boheme had a months run at Brick Lanes Bricklane,

The Brickhouse is a quirky place, there are 3 floors that look down on a really high and long stage (took me a while to get used to it) and the diners and other show on lookers watch from lots of different places, so when performing you have to spread your attention over the whole venue.
I actually really enjoyed it.

All of them when down a storm and of course we had our favourite loopy chum, Chi Chi!!

It was great being there tho as it meant we were able to use London artists much easier than when we book in Brighton and there was no stress about trains etc, well only our own, which we did miss a couple of times. Boo...

The origins of travelling vaudeville troupes lie in improved transport links
between cities. In the mid-19th century, new railroads meant posses
of vaudevillians could play in New York one week and Chicago the next. These
days, marquee productions like La Soirée and Cirque du Soleil
trot the globe on a constant basis.

The Brickhouse has made a name for
itself in recent years as a destination for out-of-town troupes keen to impress
a London audience. Boylesque brigade
Mod Carousel and burlesque dolls Sinner Saint Burlesque have both travelled
6,000 miles from Seattle to Brick Lane to put on productions this year. La
Bordello Boheme have only travelled from Brighton but are a still a welcome
change from much of the current London fare.

Burlesque hoopster Chi Chi Revolver performing with
Bordello Boheme

As a troupe, we’ve rarely seen one smaller than this quartet but, as we found
out (again), size isn’t everything.Take, for example, the
captain of this merry crew. Veronica Blacklace may well be one
of the most brazenly brilliant singer/compères to ascend a London stage. A
corseted combination of Jessica Rabbit and Dusty Limits, she expertly leads her
merry band from the front. And how.

While some hosts barely move from
the stage, Blacklace treats the entire lower two floors of the venue as her
personal space: she gives (fully clothed) lapdances, takes from the audience
glasses of both varieties (drinking wine from one, trying the other type on for
size) and wipes one diner’s face with his own napkin. On one of her many
walkabouts, she spots a waiter cleaning a nearby spillage. Leaning over, she
tells him “and while you’re down there…” Blacklace exudes charisma and calor
throughout the night, enough to be forgiven her occasional choice of overused
standards like Feelin’
Good.

As for the other three members of La Bordello Boheme‘s cast, it’s
all killer, no filler. Burlesquer Billie Raeshows admirable levels of dynamism and bravado, especially in her
second act. Appearing onstage with an elaborate outfit featuring Isis wings and
a huge feather fan headdress, she takes time to draw the audience in before
suddenly stripping down to tassels and merkin. Most burlesque performers would
scarper offstage right about then; instead, Rae casually proceeds to demonstrate
some elegant fire-eating to the obvious enjoyment of the crowd.

This isn’t to say there is nothing
for the ladies to swoon over. Edd Muir starts with an unusual
Indiana-Jones-style bullwhip act. The loud practiced cracks temporarily silence
the rowdy office outing on the mezzanine floor as he uses the whip to dismember
newspaper sheets and a rose held between Blacklace’s barely quivering lips. His
second appearance draws more than a few sighs as he strips off to show a mean
set of abs and ascends a Chinese pole demonstrating the kind of skill
reminiscent of La
Soirée’s Hamish McCann.

Dancing within a lit-up hula hoop
while stripping is nothing new but it makes for a visually spectacular
experience as World
Burlesque Games’ Triple Crown winner Anna The Hulagan demonstrated this
year. Chi Chi Revolver has the edge on Anna in one respect,
though: the former has priceless facial expressions not dissimilar to a toddler
tasting chocolate ice-cream for the first time.

Overall, this is an exciting show, both sexy and thrilling in parts, which
needs to be seen. It needs to be seen by people who don’t understand the draw of
live variety shows. It needs to be seen by people who do, but think they require
a large number of mono-skilled performers. And it needs to be seen by 21 July
unless you really do want to travel to Brighton to see this high quality cabaret
troupe. Go.